Hey, neighbor! If the image above, of Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in
Blue Velvet does not seem to ring a bell, that's because it resides deep in a thicket of footage deleted from David Lynch's final cut. The scrapped scene sees Frank answering Dorothy Vallens' phone to the surprise of young Jeffery Beaumont, and the hunter and prey lock in silent stand-off over the wires. Not that anyone needs to be sold on the merits of this performance, but this moment features some world-class Eyeball Acting from Mr. Hopper, the sort of nuance that's easy to overlook given the wilder outbursts of this outsized character.
There is plenty more such fun to be had in these deleted scenes, and I delve into some of the highlights and subtleties in this
Guide to the Lost Footage of Blue Velvet over at
Grantland's Hollywood Prospectus. What are you waiting for? Get those chainsaws out!
